


Within

by cathrheas



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-04-25 09:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22288021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathrheas/pseuds/cathrheas
Summary: Marianne reflects on a letter from her father. Hilda appears and gives her something else to think about.
Relationships: Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Within

**Author's Note:**

> MariHilda Week Day 5: Family/Goddess Tower/Beast

Marianne had carried the letter in her pocket all day. It was merely a letter from her father, a piece of paper coated with ink, but it felt heavy in her hands. She didn’t know why she kept it in her pocket. It was Garreg Mach Establishment Day. She should have been happy, being able to celebrate the place that had given her shelter, but even if she’d left the letter in her room, she would have still been thinking about it throughout the ball.

_ Your secret is safe, dear Marianne. Nobody has to know the truth. _

Good, she should have thought. Good, nobody  _ should _ know. But, sometimes, she found herself wanting people to ask, why she acted the way she did, what secrets she held. She found herself mouthing the words to herself, her imaginary confession.  _ I have the Crest of the Beast.  _ I’m  _ a beast. _ Even if whoever overheard her saw her as just that, a wild beast with no self-control, Marianne wondered if the truth would liberate her.

The urge to confess was strong around certain people, when she got close to them. So, to stay safe, she stopped getting close to people. That was how she ended up at the Goddess Tower by herself, trying to chase away the echoes of ballroom music in her head. She took out the letter again, read her father’s words again. They were meant to be comforting.

_ Nobody has to know the truth. _

But why can’t they? No, Marianne knew why, but...it wasn’t fair. She loved her father, but was he really all she was entitled to? Marianne squeezed the letter so hard that it wrinkled. It was so silent in the Goddess Tower that the sound of crunching paper echoed. It startled her, forced her to face her own discomfort and anger.

Another sobering sound: footsteps coming towards her. Marianne wanted to be  _ alone. _ She didn’t want anybody near her, not when she was so vulnerable, when she was one whisper away from telling everything—

“Marianne? Is that you?”

Of course. Of all people, it had to be the one she’d wanted to tell all along.

“Yes. It’s me.”

“I thought I’d find you here! Always here, or the cathedral, or your room. I like people who are easy to find,” Hilda said, creeping closer with a smile. “Less walking for me!”

“Haha...yeah.” Ignoring Marianne’s aloof, anxious demeanor, Hilda slid right up to Marianne’s side, linking their arms. She turned, trying to drag Marianne out of the Tower, but Marianne planted her feet. “Um, Hilda, where are you trying to take me?”

“Back to the ball, of course! I don’t like hard work, but dancing doesn’t count.” Hilda said that with a cheeky wink, and Marianne, for a brief moment, thought she would certainly faint. “It’ll get chilly out here, soon. The dance floor will warm you up.”

“I don’t want to leave. I just want to...stay here. By myself,” Marianne said. 

_ Let it go, Hilda. Please. _ “Marianne, everyone will miss you.”

“Th-they won’t. They don’t even know me.”  _ Nobody does. _

“Maybe they don’t. But they’ll get to know you, if you go,” Hilda pointed out. “Come on, Marianne. I know you like to keep to yourself, but me, and the other Golden Deer...we’re your friends. Your family!”

The letter got heavier in Marianne’s pocket.  _ Friends. Family. _ “Yeah, I don’t...I don’t think so. I’m not—”

“You can isolate yourself all you want, Marianne, but I can promise you, you aren’t getting rid of me.” Hilda’s arms were so strong, defined even through the fabric of her shirt. Marianne really couldn’t escape their linked arms. It was sad, how desperately Hilda clung to her. She didn’t know the truth. She didn’t know any of it. “So, don’t try! We love you too much to let you wallow around all night.”

_ Love me? How could they, when they don’t even know me? _ Marianne’s arm went slack in Hilda’s despite her internal protests.  _ That _ part was taking over: the part that fooled her into thinking someone would love her if she just told the truth. The part that filtered thoughts into her head of Hilda looking into her eyes, and saying those words again, except the “we love you” was an “I love you” and Hilda actually knew what she was getting into.

They walked towards the ball, still lively, shielded from the bitter chill of the night air.  _ I’ll tell her, _ Marianne thought.  _ One day. _

**Author's Note:**

> short but like....feelings


End file.
